Donald Trump on Free Trade

Nominates opponent of World Bank to lead World Bank

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the World Bank described himself in 2011 remarks as a 25-year opponent to the institution & others like it, saying that they needed to be "thrown away" and started over from scratch. David Malpass made the comments
while speaking to a local Republican gathering in Albertson, New York, in May 2011. CNN's KFile reviewed a recording of his remarks which were posted on YouTube at the time.

Trump's decision to nominate Malpass was met with some pushback, with critics
contending Malpass held views that are hostile to the bank's mission, which is to reduce poverty in developing nations through financial assistance.

The US president has chosen the leader of the World Bank since its founding in 1945, but the pick has
to be confirmed by the organization's board of directors. If confirmed, Malpass would succeed Jim Yong Kim, who was chosen by President Barack Obama in 2012 to lead the organization and re-nominated in 2016.

FactCheck: NAFTA displaced 851,700; but net loss 15,000/year

CLAIM: Trump, in urging Congress to support his new trade agreement, said he had met men and women across the country whose "dreams were shattered by NAFTA" [implying job losses].

FACT-CHECK: One analysis of the Clinton-era North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) found that about 851,700 U.S. jobs were displaced by the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico between 1993 (shortly before NAFTA was implemented) and 2014. That's a data point that was cited by Bernie Sanders during his
2016 campaign, when he frequently decried job losses due to NAFTA.

A 2014 study found that while NAFTA has caused about 203,000 jobs to be displaced by NAFTA-related imports annually, imports support 188,000 new jobs, leading to a net loss of only
about 15,000 annually.

And the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service wrote in 2017 that "in reality, NAFTA did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics... because trade with Canada & Mexico accounts for a small percentage of U.S. GDP."

Tariffs on $250B of Chinese goods: Treasury gains billions

To build on our incredible economic success, one priority is paramount--reversing decades of calamitous trade policies.

We are now making it clear to China that after years of targeting our industries, and stealing our intellectual property,
the theft of American jobs and wealth has come to an end.

Therefore, we recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods--and now our Treasury is receiving billions of dollars a month from a country that never gave us a dime.
But I don't blame China for taking advantage of us--I blame our leaders and representatives for allowing this travesty to happen. I have great respect for President Xi, and we are now working on a new trade deal with China.
But it must include real, structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit, and protect American jobs.

USMCA delivers dreams shattered by catastrophe of NAFTA

A historic trade blunder was the catastrophe known as NAFTA. I have met the men & women whose dreams were shattered by NAFTA. For years, politicians promised them they would negotiate for a better deal. But no one ever tried--until now.

Our new
US-Mexico-Canada Agreement--or USMCA--will replace NAFTA and deliver for American workers: bringing back our manufacturing jobs, expanding American agriculture, and ensuring that more cars are proudly stamped with four beautiful words: made in the USA.

Source: 2019 State of the Union address to United States Congress
, Feb 5, 2019

The Reciprocal Trade Act lets us respond to unfair tariffs

I am asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product,
we can charge them the exact same tariff on the same product that they sell to us.

Source: 2019 State of the Union address to United States Congress
, Feb 5, 2019

Country built on tariffs; they'll lead to new trade deals

@realDonaldTrump tweeted: "Our Country was built on Tariffs, and Tariffs are now leading us to great new Trade Deals - as opposed to the horrible and unfair Trade Deals that I inherited as your President.
Other Countries should not be allowed to come in and steal the wealth of our great U.S.A. No longer!" 11:04 AM - Aug 15, 2018

Tariffs force EU, Mexico, & Canada to re-negotiate

Earlier this year, the Trump administration levied a 25-percent tariff on steel imported from the European Union, as well as a 10-percent tariff on aluminum. Brussels responded with tariffs on a number of U.S. goods. In July, Trump announced that the
EU had agreed to increase soybean and natural gas imports from the U.S., while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker promised that further steel and aluminum tariffs would be put on hold and existing tariffs reassessed.

President Trump has shown no sign of stopping the use of tariffs as an economic weapon. Trump has been attempting to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.
On Friday, Trump tweeted that a trade deal with Mexico was "coming along nicely," but threatened Canada with auto tariffs if Washington and Ottawa can't forge an agreement.

FactCheck: China has 25% car tariff, but only 10% on parts

Is Donald Trump right that China slaps a 25 percent tariff on American cars? President Trump took to Twitter to bemoan what he considers unfair practices in the US' automobile trade with China:

"When a car is sent to the United States from China,
there is a Tariff to be paid of 2-1/2%. When a car is sent to China from the United States, there is a Tariff to be paid of 25%," Trump tweeted April 9. "Does that sound like free or fair trade. No, it sounds like STUPID TRADE-- going on for years!"

Trump's 25% figure matches up with international trade data: we rate this Mostly True. But economists raised some important details that Trump omitted: Some experts suggested Trump had cherry-picked the facts by singling out "cars" instead of a
broader category of automobiles or car parts. The U.S. tariff on light trucks from China is 25%. And Chinese tariffs on American auto parts sent to China are well below 25%. For example, China places a 10% tariff on automobile engines.

Trade wars are good; tariffs on steel and aluminum

Trump threatened to impose the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports [last week, and this week] Trump said in a tweet that "trade wars are good." His tweet came after he announced that he intends to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10%
tariff on aluminum imports next week, when he is scheduled to formally sign the measures.

"People have no idea how badly our country has been treated by other countries," Trump said. "They've destroyed the steel industry, they've destroyed the aluminum
industry, and other industries, frankly."

Trump railed against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the nation's trading partners throughout his campaign. Speaking at the shuttered Osram Sylvania factory in Manchester NH in June 2016,
he said, "New Hampshire has lost 31 percent of their manufacturing jobs since NAFTA," which went into effect in 1994, when Bill Clinton was president, Trump said. He called the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995 "another Clinton disaster."

Trade deals should be one-on-one that US can terminate

I've withdrawn America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. So that we can protect our economic freedom. And we're going to make trade deals, but we're going to do one on one, and if they misbehave, we terminate the deal and then they'll come back and
we'll make a better deal. None of these big quagmire deals that are a disaster. Take a look at NAFTA, one of the worst deals ever made by any country. It's economy un-development, as far as our country is concerned.

Source: Time magazine, "Trump speech at CPAC 2017"
, Feb 24, 2017

I disagreed with Ronald Reagan on trade; we need better

CLINTON: When I hear Donald's slogan, "Make America Great Again," I wonder when he thought America was great. And before he rushes and says, "You know, before you and President Obama were there," I think it's important to recognize that he has been
criticizing our government for decades. Back in 1987, he took out a $100,000 ad in the New York Times, during the time when President Reagan was president, and basically said exactly what he just says now, that we were the laughingstock of the world.
He was criticizing President Reagan.

TRUMP: Because I did disagree with Ronald Reagan very strongly on trade. I disagreed with him. We should have been much tougher on trade even then. I've been waiting for years. Nobody does it right.

CLINTON: This is the way Donald thinks about himself, puts himself into the middle and says, "I alone can fix it," as he said on the convention stage.

TRUMP: Yeah, we've heard this before, Hillary. And frankly, now we're going to do it right.

FactCheck: yes, Ford plant in Mexico, but no U.S. job cuts

Ford is moving production of the Ford Focus and Ford C-Max from its
Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne to Mexico in 2018. Ford said in April it plans to invest $1.6 billion to build a new plant in Mexico and create 2,800 jobs to build small cars there. However, Ford also plans to replace the products it makes in
Wayne with two new vehicles and has repeatedly said no jobs will be lost. Ford's CEO said that "zero" jobs will be lost in the US and said "it is really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts."

Trumps' comments also prompted tweets
from both Ford and the UAW countering Trump's claims. The automaker also made a commitment in November to invest $9 billion in U.S. plants and creates or retains more than 8,500 jobs as part of a new four-year contract with the UAW.

FactCheck: NAFTA reduced U.S. jobs by 1%, not 30% or 50%

Trump said, "You go to New England, Ohio, Pennsylvania, you go anywhere you want, Secretary Clinton, and you will see devastation where manufacturing is down 30, 40, sometimes 50 percent. NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere but
certainly ever signed in this country."

Bloomberg Fact check: NAFTA had a modest effect on manufacturing jobs. An Economic Policy Institute analysis says manufacturing jobs dropped in the 1990s from 17.9 million to 17.6 million.

Trump said of Hillary, "She's been doing this for 30 years. And why hasn't she made the agreements better? The NAFTA agreement is defective," [implying that Hillary and Bill Clinton held primary responsibility for NAFTA].
Chicago Tribune fact-checkers noted that while NAFTA was signed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, it was largely negotiated under the administration of George H.W. Bush.

Identify every violation of trade agreements, and prosecute

A Trump Administration will change our failed trade policy--quickly. Here are 7 steps I would pursue right away to bring back our jobs.

Withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified.

Appoint the toughest
and smartest trade negotiators to fight on behalf of American workers.

Identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is currently using to harm our workers. I will then use every tool under American and international law to end these
abuses.

Tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers, or submit notice under Article 2205 that America intends to withdraw from the deal.

Label China a currency
manipulator.

Bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO, for China's unfair subsidy behavior.

IUse every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs.

NAFTA has cleaned out manufacturing in many states

Under my administration, we will never enter America into any agreement that reduces our ability to control our own affairs. NAFTA, as an example, has been a total disaster for the United States and has emptied our states--literally emptied our
states of our manufacturing and our jobs. And I've just gotten to see it. I've toured Pennsylvania. I've toured New York. I've toured so many of the states. They have been cleaned out. Their manufacturing is gone.

Never again, only the reverse--and I have to say this strongly--never again; only the reverse will happen. We will keep our jobs and bring in new ones.
There will be consequences for the companies that leave the United States only to exploit it later. They fire the people. They take advantage of the United States. There will be consequences for those companies. Never again.

OpEd: 35% tariff-like penalties would instigate a trade war

If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished.

Let me explain why I say that. First on the economy. If Donald Trump's plans were ever implemented, the country would sink
into prolonged recession. A few examples. His proposed 35 percent tariff-like penalties would instigate a trade war and that would raise prices for consumers, kill our export jobs and lead entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes to flee America.

Now, not every policy that Donald Trump has floated is bad, of course. He wants to repeal and replace ObamaCare. He wants to bring jobs home from China and Japan. But his prescriptions to do those things are flimsy at best.
Successfully bringing jobs home requires serious policy and reforms that make America the place businesses want to come, want to plant and want to grow. You can't punish business into doing what you want.

With a $58 billion trade deficit, Mexico will pay for wall

RUBIO: About the trade war -- I don't understand, because your ties and the clothes are made in Mexico and in China. You're going to start a trade war against your own ties and suits. Why don't you make them in America?

TRUMP: We have a trade deficit with Mexico of $58 billion a year. We're going to make them pay for that wall. The wall is $10 billion to $12 billion.
I don't mind trade wars when we're losing $58 billion a year. Mexico is taking our businesses. They de-value their currencies to such an extent that our businesses cannot compete with them, our workers lose their jobs.
You wouldn't know anything about it because you're a lousy businessman.

Trade pacts are no good for us and no good for our workers

Carrier (US air conditioning company) is moving to Mexico. I would go to Carrier and say, "You're going to lay off 1,400 people. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, and you're trying to get them across our border with no tax."
I'm going to tell them that we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers.

Disastrous deals because we don't have smart negotiators

Q: So, you would tear up NAFTA?

A: I think NAFTA has been a disaster. I think our current deals are a disaster. I'm a free trader. The problem with free trade is, you need smart people representing you. We have the greatest negotiators in the
world, but we don't use them. We use political hacks and diplomats. We use the wrong people. Mexico is smart; they have out-negotiated us to a fare-thee-well. They're going to be the capital of automobiles pretty soon, the way they're going.

Stupid people negotiate our trade bills, & trade won't work

I'm totally against the trade bill for a number of reasons. I'm a free trader. But the problem with free trade is you need really talented people to negotiate for you. If you don't have people that know business, not just a political hack that got the
job because he made a contribution to a campaign, free trade is terrible.

Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people, but we have people that are stupid. We have people that are controlled by special interests. And it's just not going to work

20% tax on all imported goods

If we want jobs in America, we need to enact my 5-part tax policy: kill the death tax; lower the tax rates on capital gains & dividends; eliminate corporate taxes in order to create more American jobs; mandate a 15% tax for outsourcing jobs and a
20% tax for importing goods, and enact the 1-5-10-15 income tax plan [four brackets with a top rate of 15%].

Government needs to stop pick-pocketing your wallet. Every time it does, it slows growth and kills jobs. It's also immoral.

Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 65
, Dec 5, 2011

Fair trade instead of embarrassing deal with South Korea

I'm for free and fair trade. After all, I do business all over the world. But look at the deal Obama cut with South Korea. It was so bad, so embarrassing, that you can hardly believe anyone would sign such a thing. In theory, the agreement
Obama signed will do next to nothing to even out the trade imbalance, will further erode American manufacturing and kill more American jobs, and will wipe away the tariffs South Korea presently pays us to sell their stuff in our country.
Why would Obama agree to these terms, especially when we hold all the cards?

Why is our president signing the trade bill that the
South Koreans want him to sign instead of the one that gives us maximum advantage?

Embrace globalization and international markets

The important thing to consider is that more and more there is an interdependence of world economies. No one can afford to be isolationist any more.
Keep your focus global. Globalization has torn down the barriers that have formerly separated the national from the international markets.

Source: Never Give Up, by Donald Trump, p.158
, Jan 18, 2008

Renegotiate tougher & fairer trade agreements

You only have to look at our trade deficit to see that we are being taken to the cleaners by our trading partners. We need tougher negotiations, not protectionist walls around America.
We need to ensure that foreign markets are as open to our products as our country is to theirs. Our long-term interests require that we cut better deals with our world trading partners.

Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.145
, Jul 2, 2000

NAFTA was worst trade deal ever; TPP is a close second

Trump: NAFTA was one of the worst things that ever happened to the manufacturing industry. You go to New England, you go to Ohio, Pennsylvania, you go anywhere you want, Secretary Clinton, and you will see devastation
where manufacture is down 30, 40, sometimes 50 percent. NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country. And now [Clinton wants] to approve Trans-Pacific Partnership.
You were totally in favor of it. Then you heard what I was saying, how bad it is, and you said, "I can't win that debate."
But you know that if you did win, you would approve that, and that will be almost as bad as NAFTA. Nothing will ever top NAFTA.

Clinton: Well, that is just not accurate. I was against it once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out.

President should be nation’s trade representative

Denouncing United States trade policy, Trump promised to appoint himself as the nation’s trade representative, saying he would have no trouble serving both in that post and as president.
He then attacked the current holder of the job, Charlene Barshefky. “Who is she?” demanded Trump. “I never heard of her!”

Source: nytimes.com/library/politics
, Dec 10, 1999

World views US trade officials as ‘saps’

Trump said that US trade officials are viewed as “saps” around the world and have allowed the country to be ripped off in trade agreements. He called NAFTA a disaster and said leaders of other countries “can’t believe how easy it is to deal with the US.”
He continued, “We are known as a bunch of saps. We need our best people to negotiate against the Japanese and many other countries.” As president, he would get the nation’s top business leaders - not diplomats - to negotiate for the country.

Donald Trump on Pacific Trade

Tariffs on Chinese goods forced them to negotiate

When they charge 40 percent tariffs on our cars going into China, and we charge them nothing coming into our country; when they raise their tariff from
10 percent to 25 percent and then to 40 percent--and they said to me, "We expected that somebody would call and say you can't do that." "Nobody called, so we just left it." And I don't blame them.
We should've been doing the same thing to them. But we didn't. But now things are different. Now we're negotiating with China.
They wouldn't negotiate with previous administrations. But I found some very old laws. The old tariff laws.

China is no longer a currency manipulator

President Donald Trump said that his administration will not label China a currency manipulator, backing away from a campaign promise, even as he said the U.S. dollar was "getting too strong" and would eventually hurt the economy.

A U.S. Treasury
spokesman confirmed that the Treasury Department's semi-annual report on currency practices of major trading partners, due out later this week, will not name China a currency manipulator. "They're not currency manipulators," Trump said about China.
The statement is an about-face from Trump's election campaign promises to slap that label on Beijing on the first day of his administration as part of his plan to reduce Chinese imports into the United States.

The Wall Street Journal paraphrased
Trump as saying that the reason he changed his mind on the currency issue was because China has not been manipulating its yuan for months and because taking the step now could jeopardize his talks with Beijing on confronting the threat from North Korea.

End TPP; make American pipelines with American steel

We have cleared the way for the construction of [new oil] pipelines--thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs--and I've issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel. We have withdrawn the United States from the
job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership. We have formed a Council with our neighbors in Canada to help ensure that women entrepreneurs have access to the networks, markets and capital they need to start a business and live out their financial dreams.

Source: 2017 State of the Union address to Congress
, Feb 28, 2017

China is dumping steel all over & killing steel companies

Q: How will your energy policy meet our energy needs, while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss?

TRUMP: Energy is under siege by the Obama administration. The EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, is killing
these energy companies. And you take a look at what's happening to steel and the cost of steel and China dumping vast amounts of steel all over the United States, which essentially is killing our steelworkers and our steel companies.
It's an absolute disgrace.

CLINTON: First of all, China is illegally dumping steel in the United States and Donald Trump is buying it to build his buildings, putting steelworkers and American steel plants out of business.
That's something that I fought against as a senator and that I would have a trade prosecutor to make sure that we don't get taken advantage of by China on steel or anything else.

I take advantage of devalued Chinese currency; but stop them

Q [To Gov. Kasich]: Critics say these trade deals have cost the US 1 million jobs.

KASICH: Trade has to be balanced & we have to make sure that when we see a violation, like some country dumping their products into this country, I will shut down those
imports.

Q [to Trump]: Your campaign platform is inconsistent with how you run your businesses: your companies manufacture clothing in China and Mexico.

TRUMP: Because of the monetary devaluations that other countries are constantly doing and
brilliantly doing against us, it's very, very hard for our companies in this country, in our country, to compete. So I will take advantage of it; they're the laws. But I'm the one that knows how to change it. Nobody else on this dais knows how to change
it like I do, believe me.

KASICH: They can't manipulate their currency. That will not be anything that I would allow them to get away with. And if I saw them doing it, I would take immediate action and make sure that the American worker is protected.

It's not free trade with China; it's stupid trade

Sen. Ted CRUZ: Donald is right about international trade. He's right about the problems. But his solutions don't work: he proposed a 45% tariff on foreign goods. The effect of a 45% tariff would be when you go to Walmart, the prices you pay go up 45%.
A tariff is a tax on you, the American people.

TRUMP: The 45% tariff is a threat. It's not a tax, it was a threat. It will be a tax if they don't behave. Take China as an example. I have many friends, great manufacturers, they want to go into China.
They can't. China won't let them. We talk about free trade. It's not tree free trade; it's stupid trade. China dumps everything that they have over here. No tax, no anything. We can't get into China. The best manufacturers, when they get in, they have
to pay a tremendous tax. The 45% is a threat that if they don't behave, we will tax you. It doesn't have to be 45, it could be less. But it has to be something because our country & our trade & our deals and most importantly our jobs are going to hell.??

I've been moving clothing-making from China to U.S.

Sen. Marco RUBIO: Trump can start tonight by announcing that all the Donald Trump clothing will no longer be made in China and in Mexico, but will be made here in the United States.

Q: Will you promise that you will move your clothing collection to the
US, the clothes that are made in China and Mexico?

TRUMP: I will do that. And by the way, I have been doing it more and more. But they devalue their currencies, in particular China. Mexico is doing a big number now, also. Japan is unbelievable what
they're doing. They devalue their currencies, and they make it impossible for clothing-makers in this country to do clothing in this country. The Trans-Pacific Partnership--which Marco is in favor of---they don't take into concurrence the devaluation.
They're devaluing their currency.

RUBIO: The answer is, he's not going to do it. And you know why? The reason why he makes it in China or Mexico is because he can make more money on it.

TPP is a horrible deal; no one has read its 5,600 pages

TRUMP: The TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do,
through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long, so complex that nobody's read it. This is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance
with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan.

Q: Which are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated?

TRUMP: Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at
the way China in particular takes advantage of the US--it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement.

Sen. Rand PAUL: Hey, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal.

Chinese are savvy businesspeople: our enemy who need us

There are people who wish I wouldn't refer to China as our enemy. But that's exactly what they are. They have destroyed entire industries by utilizing low-wage workers, cost us tens of thousands of jobs, spied on our businesses,
stolen our technology, and have manipulated and devalued their currency, which makes importing our goods more expensive--and sometimes, impossible.

I know from my own experience that this is a difficult problem. The Chinese are very savvy businesspeople, and they have great advantages over our manufacturers.
I've had several Trump-brand products made there.

Remember: The Chinese need us as much as we need them. Maybe even more.

We don't beat China or Japan or Mexico in trade

Our country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade.

We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end ObamaCare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that.

China and Japan are beating us; I can beat China

Our country is in serious trouble. We don't have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don't have them. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let's say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time.
All the time.

When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo?
It doesn't exist, folks. They beat us all the time.

When do we beat Mexico at the border? They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me.
But they're killing us economically. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems.

Repatriate jobs that China has been stealing

I'm sick of always reading about outsourcing. Why aren't we talking about "onshoring"? We need to bring manufacturing jobs back home where they belong. Onshoring, or "repatriation," is a way for us to take back the jobs China is stealing.
We know that China's wages are increasing. Also, China lacks certain natural resources that we have in abundance. If we exploit those two key facts, we can begin making the case to companies that they should bring their manufacturing facilities home to
America.

Onshoring has huge potential. That's why Congress need to pass Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf's bill called the "Bring Jobs Back to
America Act" (H.R.516) to help expand the onshoring movement and get American jobs back where they belong--here in America.

Donald Trump on Protectionism

Says China is paying BIG TARIFFS, but U.S. consumers pay

The most recent round of trade talks with China ended this week with no final agreement, following Trump's decision to more than double tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. Trump said that China should "act now" to wrap up a trade deal with the
U.S, warning that "far worse" terms would be offered to them in what he predicted would be his second term as president. Trump also suggested that the U.S. was "collecting" big tariffs from China: "Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting
BIG TARIFFS!" he tweeted.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow acknowledged that the Chinese do not directly pay tariffs on goods coming into the US, but instead American importers pay and oftentimes pass it on to US consumers, contradicting
Pres. Trump's claims. Kudlow said that "both sides will suffer on this," but argued that China will suffer significant GDP losses as export markets are hit. The blow to US GDP won't be substantial since the economy is "in terrific shape," he said.

FactCheck: No, tariffs won't "make America rich again"

Among the president's top 10 whoppers of 2018:TARIFFS ARE MAKING AMERICA RICH.

"When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so...
We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN," Trump wrote in a December 2018 tweet.

Trump is misstating how tariffs work.
Tariffs are a fee charged by the U.S. when a good is brought into the U.S. They're designed to make foreign made goods more expensive--thus boosting domestic producers--but that expense,
charged to the importer, is typically passed down to American consumers.

The era of economic surrender is over: reciprocal fair trade

America has finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs, and our Nation's wealth. The era of economic surrender is over. From now on, we expect trading relationships to
be fair and to be reciprocal.

We will work to fix bad trade deals and negotiate new ones. And we will protect American workers and American intellectual property, through strong enforcement of our trade rules.

Source: 2018 State of the Union address
, Jan 30, 2018

Put American firms first in federal contracts

President Trump's April 18 executive order will strengthen rules barring foreign contractors from bidding on government projects, and will direct the Department of Commerce to review federal procurement rules and trade agreements with a view to putting
American firms at an advantage when it comes to winning contracts.

"This is the policy that ensures no one gets left behind in America anymore--that we protect our industry from unfair competition, favor the products produced by our fellow citizens
and make certain that when jobs open those jobs are given to American workers first," the White House said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how much the administration could accomplish without cooperation from Congress.
However, industry experts said Trump's executive order was a good first step to protecting the U.S. defense industrial base, and U.S. firms that do business with the federal government.

Review WTO exceptions to federal contract purchases

President Trump is set to sign an executive order on April 18, strengthening rules against using foreign companies in government projects.

The president will also order a review of existing federal procurement policies. These are statutes and rules
instituted over the decades that may bar foreign contractors from bidding for jobs, exclude certain raw materials from abroad, or mandate that international firms deliver projects at reduced prices relative to American firms in order to win contracts.

The administration will also review exceptions to these policies granted under free-trade agreements and the World Trade Organization.
While these agreements are designed to give U.S. firms access to foreign governments' contracts in exchange for allowing firms from abroad to bid on federal projects, a senior administration official argued that U.S. bids are treated unfairly overseas.

US companies pay high tariffs abroad; let's change that

We must create a level playing field for American companies & workers. Currently, when we ship products out of America, many other countries make us pay very high tariffs and taxes--but when foreign companies ship their products into America, we charge
them almost nothing.

I just met with officials and workers from a great American company, Harley-Davidson. I asked them how they are doing with international sales. They told me--without even complaining because they have been mistreated for so long
that they have become used to it--that it is very hard to do business with other countries because they tax our goods at such a high rate. They said that in one case another country taxed their motorcycles at 100 percent.

They weren't even asking for
change. But I am. I believe strongly in free trade but it also has to be FAIR TRADE. President Lincoln, warned that the "abandonment of the protective policy will produce want and ruin." Lincoln was right--and it is time we heeded his words.

Protection will make America strong

For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military. We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength,
and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon.

One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left behind. The wealth of our middle class has
been redistributed across the entire world. But that is the past.

From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it's going to be America First. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs,
will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.

Two simple rules: buy American, and hire American

We will get our people off of welfare and back to work--rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor. We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American. We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world--
but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.

"You only have to look at our trade deficit to see that we are being taken to the cleaners by our trading partners. We need tougher negotiations [to] cut better deals with our world trading partners."--The America We Deserve, p.145, July 2000

FactCheck: No, VATs are not tariffs against US exports

Trump said, "Mexico has a VAT tax. When we sell into Mexico, there's a tax, automatic, 16 percent. When they sell into us, there's no tax." Trump has never mentioned VATs before. Yesterday an economist at UC Irvine released a report analyzing Trump's
economic plan and taking aim at VAT taxes. [But that's not how VATs work].

When a company in Germany makes goods to sell at home, it has to pay the VAT. But if it makes them to sell in the US, it doesn't--the tax gets waived at the border. If a US
company sells in Germany, it does have to pay the VAT. [The UC Irvine] interpretation is that] border adjustability turns the VAT into an "implicit export subsidy" for foreign companies and an "implicit tariff" on US exporters. This is just dead wrong.
Everybody has to pay Germany's VAT when they're selling goods in Germany. Nobody has to pay Germany's VAT when they're selling goods outside of Germany.

You can't really blame Trump for this one: a guy with a PhD in economics fed this stuff to him.

Renegotiate NAFTA; they charge us 16%; we charge nothing

We don't know what we're doing when it comes to devaluations and all of these countries all over the world, especially China. They're the best, the best ever at it.

We have to renegotiate our trade deals. They're taking our jobs, they're giving
incentives, they're doing things that, frankly, we don't do. Let me give you the example of Mexico. They have a VAT tax. We're on a different system. When we sell into Mexico, there's a tax. When they sell in--automatic, 16 percent, approximately.
When they sell into us, there's no tax. It's a defective agreement. It's been defective for a long time, many years, but the politicians haven't done anything about it. But in all fairness to Secretary Clinton, when she started talking about this,
it was really very recently. She's been doing this for 30 years. And why hasn't she made the agreements better? The NAFTA agreement is defective. We owe $20 trillion. We cannot do it any longer.

Tax imports when U.S. companies manufacture abroad

Q: How do you bring back jobs [outsourced by] American manufacturers? How do you make them bring the jobs back? A: Well, the first thing you do is don't let the jobs leave. The companies are leaving. I could name, I mean, there are thousands of them.
They're leaving, and they're leaving in bigger numbers than ever. And what you do is you say, fine, you want to go to Mexico or some other country, good luck. We wish you a lot of luck. But if you think you're going to make your air conditioners or your
cars or your cookies or whatever you make and bring them into our country without a tax, you're wrong. And once you say you're going to have to tax them coming in, and our politicians never do this, because they have special interests and the special
interests want those companies to leave, because in many cases, they own the companies. So what I'm saying is, we can stop them from leaving. We have to stop them from leaving. And that's a big, big factor.

Restrict free trade to keep jobs in US

Q: You would end NAFTA, kill the Pacific Trade Agreement, impose tariffs on some products like 35% on Ford cars made in Mexico.

TRUMP: I am all for free trade, but it's got to be fair. When Ford moves their massive plants to Mexico, we get nothing.
I want them to stay in Michigan.

Q: But the American Enterprise Institute says, your Trump Collection clothing line, some of it is made in Mexico and China.

TRUMP: That's true. I want it to be made here.

Q: The point is you're doing just what
Ford is--you're taking advantage of a global trading market.

TRUMP: I never dispute that. I just ordered 4,000 television sets from South Korea. I don't want to order them from South Korea. I don't think anybody makes television sets in the
United States anymore. I talk about it all the time.˙We don't make anything anymore. Now you look at Boeing.˙Boeing's going over to China.˙They're going to build a massive plant because China's demanding it in order to order airplanes from Boeing.

35% import tax on Mexican border

Ford announces a few weeks ago that Ford is going to build a $2.5 billion car and truck and parts manufacturing plant in Mexico. I would call up the head of Ford, if I was president, I'd say, "Congratulations. I understand that you're building a nice
$2.5 billion car factory in Mexico and that you're going to take your cars and sell them to the US zero tax, just flow them across the border."

And you say to yourself, "How does that help us? Where is that good"? It's not. So I would say, "Let me give
you the bad news. Every car and every part manufactured in this plant that comes across the border, we're going to charge you a 35% tax, and that tax is going to be paid simultaneously with the transaction.

Now, if it's not me in the position, here's
what's going to happen: They're going to get a call from the donors or from the lobbyist for Ford and say, "I take care of you, and you can't do that to Ford."

I'm using my own money. I'm not using the lobbyists. I'm not using donors. I don't care.